DFA has been authorized for the Regional Districts of East Kootenay and Central Kootenay including all electoral areas and municipalities within these two Regional Districts who sustained damages from this event. DFA has been authorized for qualifying claimants, such as home owners, residential tenants, small business owners, farmers, charitable organizations and local government bodies, who were unable to obtain insurance to cover these disaster-related losses. All applicants should first check with their insurance agent to determine if their current insurance policy provides coverage for the resulting damage. As part of the DFA qualification process, the applicant’s insurer will be asked to provide a letter indicating that the applicant could not have purchased insurance to cover these disaster-related losses.

Although we encourage people to submit their application to us as soon as possible so that we can have the damage assessment completed promptly, the deadline for EMBC to receive this form is June 25, 2017. Please email or fax the completed application to EMBC directly at DFA@gov.bc.ca or 250-952-5542. EMBC will confirm eligibility and contracted evaluators will contact eligible applicants to explain the DFA program requirements and schedule an onsite visit.

Disaster Financial Assistance is a provincial program, administered by Emergency Management BC, to help individuals and local governments recover from uninsurable disasters.

The purpose of DFA is to provide a helping hand to get people and local governments back on their feet after an uninsurable disaster.

The DFA program operates under the Emergency Program Act and the ensuing Compensation and Disaster Financial Assistance Regulation and is obliged to provide compensation in compliance with this legislation.

DFA eligibility criteria, as defined in the Act and the Regulation, have been applied consistently and fairly throughout the province since 1995.

When is DFA available?

DFA is available in the event of a disaster in respect of which the minister, or designate, has determined that disaster financial assistance may be provided.

When this determination is made, EMBC defines the eligible dates and geographic locations, notifies affected local governments, posts this information on its website, publishes information in local papers, and if requested attends community meetings.

Who is eligible for DFA?

Local Governments and individuals in the following categories may be eligible:

Homeowner

Assistance must be for the residence that is occupied by the individual as their home, where the majority of their personal effects are located, and the residence for which they received the provincial Home Owner Grant or were entitled to receive this grant.

Residential Tenant

Must be the residence that is occupied by the individual as their home and where the majority of their personal effects are located.

Small Business Owner

Must be the owner of a business that is managed by the applicant on a day to day basis, is the owner’s major source of income, has gross sales of less than $1 million per year, and employs less than 50 people at any one time.

Farmer

Must be the owner of a farm operation that is identified by the BC Assessment Authority as an agricultural operation, is owned and operated by a person whose full time employment is as a farmer, and is the means by which the owner derives the majority of their income.

Charitable Organization

Must be a not for profit charitable organization that provides a benefit or service to the community at large, has been in existence for at least 12 months, and is registered under the Society Act.

What is eligible for DFA?

DFA can compensate for 80% of eligible claims, after the first $1,000 to a maximum claim of $300,000. There is no maximum for a local government claim.

DFA is only for uninsurable losses and for losses where there is no other program offered by local, provincial, federal or international governments or agencies.

DFA is available for essential items only. It provides or reinstates the necessities of life, including help to repair and restore damaged homes (land damage is not eligible) and to re-establish or maintain the viability of small businesses and working farms. For local governments it is available to help restore essential infrastructure.

Additional information about the DFA Program and specifics re eligible applicants, eligible losses and application process are available at: